The popularity of hockey both as a spectator sport and as a participatory activity has created a substantial demand for hockey sticks which have traditionally been made of wood. As the sticks commonly receive very rough treatment in play, they are subject to a high rate of wear and breakage. It is not unusual for each player on a team to require several replacement sticks during a single game. Among professional players especially, there are strong individual preferences for hockey sticks having particular characteristics of size, weight and flexibility so that a large supply of sticks must be kept on hand to ensure that each team member will have an immediately available replacement of his preferred type whenever it becomes necessary. The cost of the sticks consumed by wear and breakage is appreciable, as is the burden of maintaining a large inventory of spares which must travel with the team.
The cost of hockey sticks is also a matter of concern to individual amateurs who must supply their own equipment and are not likely to carry spares about with them. Thus, a broken or damaged stick may terminate such a person's opportunity to participate at a particular time, as well as cause him the trouble and expense of shopping for and obtaining a new stick. Without the assistance of a professional's team staff, the individual may not readily locate a stick having his favorite weight and flexibility characteristics, and be forced to settle for one less than optimum for his playing style and ability.
Due to the severe requirements of the game, the construction of quality wooden hockey sticks has dictated the selection of high grade wood stock which is always relatively scarce and has become quite costly with increasing demand for use in the manufacture of hockey sticks and other items.
For the foregoing reasons, it is highly desirable to provide hockey sticks of materials other than wood which are resistant to wear and breakage as well as lending themselves to fabrication with consistently reproducible weight and flexibility characteristics. A further desirable feature is an easily replaceable blade, which is the portion most subject to the normal abuse of the game. By enabling such replacement, a player will be permitted to retain his favorite shaft, further reducing the cost of replacement and the size of the inventory which must be maintained to support a team with an active schedule.